Feeling depressed and frustrated because you haven’t gotten relief?  You may want to consider EMDR treatment. In this article I discuss how EMDR can help alleviate depression and share a success story.

EMDR which stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is a treatment approach that I am certified in and I have been talking about and discussing in my videos and articles. 

It has been mainly used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. 

The truth is that many of the other kinds of emotional and mental challenges such as depression and anxiety have a root cause in some kind of trauma. 

Trauma does not need to be just child abuse or rape or some one time significant event. 

Being told that you’ll never amount to anything when you were a young person can possibly be enough to trigger a depressive response where a person lives his life with the underlying negative belief that he’s not good enough. 

I’m using the male gender just for language but of course it relates to all genders. 

Talk therapy and especially cognitive behavioral therapy has been the approach that many have talked about to help alleviate depression. However, I have been using the approach of EMDR to help people with these kinds of emotional symptoms and have been very effective with using this approach. 

The reason probably has to do with the fact that there are post-traumatic stress disorder elements of depression or anxiety. EMDR is a way to process previously unprocessed memories and one aspect of memory is emotion of which depression is one of those emotions. 

Depression can also be a defense against other kinds of pain. So there are a myriad of ways to process memories and the emotional part of memories to help a person feel more alive and more open to life. 

Here is a link to one of many studies that specifically deals with EMDR and how it helps people who have depression:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467776/  

Let me illustrate how EMDR can help alleviate depression:    

I have a client who came to see me because she was really depressed and was having a hard time enjoying life as well as having little or no sexual desire towards her partner. 

She is a person who has had many achievements in life and has done well in career and now has a family with two young children. 

However, everyday felt like just another day to get through. When we looked at her family history, it indicated that her family of origin was a family  where her parents were too preoccupied to really give her any kind of proper attention. 

She was the one that caused no problems for her family because she always did well in school and didn’t get into any trouble. However, she always had the sense about herself that she really didn’t matter, that she was insignificant. 

She lost her ability to experience her true self and to express her true self. We went back to some earlier memories and processed some of them and also did something we do in EMDR which is to install a more nurturing symbolic figure. She was experiencing this deprivation of being treated like she really did not matter. 

We were able to “install” several symbolic resources including her own nurturing maternal self as she (despite her depression) was able to give adequate attention to her own two children.

In a relatively short time, this person who seemed to always experience depression started to experience her own sense of personal value and significance. 

She started to experience life as  one where she mattered and that people can adapt to her needs if need be from time to time. She is someone today who experiences very little depression and when she does, she is able to let go quite easy and experience this newfound joy and zest for life.  Also, her libido came back which pleased her husband and herself!

If you or someone you know is experiencing some of these depressive symptoms, know that there may be hope with this approach. 

This approach does not mean that you never talk during therapy and you still will develop a positive therapeutic relationship with your therapist. However this approach is one which helps you develop new brain connections and it works below the level of your conscious mind. 

That’s what gives this intervention so much power.  

Feel free to contact me and I will be happy to discuss the best way that you or that other person you know can live a more full and joyful life.